Midnight Musings
by half-goddess-Katia
Summary: Eiji thinks about everything that has happened as he lays in bed, unable to fall asleep. Spoilers through 30


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kamen Rider OOO, and I am making no money off of this. This is solely for my own and other's entertainment.

**AN:** So, my muse decided to hit me upside the head with another two or three story ideas…as I was trying to fall asleep. Here's the first. This is set sometime between episodes 30 and 31.

**Warnings:** Some spoilers up through 30 as this is set between episodes 30 and 31

_**Midnight Musings**_

Eiji sighed a bit as he lay in bed, unable to fall asleep because of all the thoughts going through his head. So much had changed in such a short period of time that it really wasn't surprising that he was having trouble sleeping outside of the times he simply passed out, too exhausted from work – be it a _really_ busy day at the café or a day spent chasing down a Yummy to stop it from causing havoc, during which he may or may not run into a Greeed – to do much besides change into his pajamas and crawl into bed.

Sighing again, Eiji turned so that he was on his back and tilted his head a bit so he could just make out Ankh's form where he lay on his own bed. Things had been getting progressively more complicated since he'd first run into the red Greeed, and not just in terms of the difficulty of who he was fighting against – though _that_ certainly hadn't simplified any, what with Kazari now creating hybrid Yummy and the appearance of the rest of Ankh's Greeed form as a completely separate being from Ankh himself – but in every aspect of what was going on around him.

Hina-chan was clearly worrying more and more over Eiji himself, her brother, and, oddly enough, Ankh, and they all knew there wasn't really anything she could do, which was why he had tried to keep her from getting involved in the first place. Goto-san and Date-san were clearly worrying over the possible shift in the balance of power now that the "new" Ankh and Dr. Maki had fully joined forces with Kazari, though at least they could do something about it, fight against it, even if Eiji worried because the Yummy and Greeed were getting stronger and the Greeed had learned to target Birth as there was less he could do to fight them. Kogami-san was obviously planning something, though what exactly that was still wasn't entirely clear, all they knew was that his ideas for what came after all was said and done didn't match up with Dr. Maki's. Of course, there was also the doctor himself who had finally shown his true allegiance by joining Kazari, and that put them at a big disadvantage since he had been the one who had been creating and updating the designs for the ride vendors and the can droids and had been the person in charge of maintaining the Birth suit. Uva – who had been suspiciously quiet as of late – and Kazari were still finding ways to make themselves – and, by extension, their Yummy – stronger and still wanted the medals he and Ankh possessed so they could be complete.

Then there was the situation between he and Ankh, which was probably the most complicated part of what was going on. It had started off simply enough, Ankh was using him to defeat the other Greeed and collect medals while he was using Ankh, and the strength the Greeed had offered, to defeat the Yummy and the Greeed in order to protect innocent people, and that was it. Yet, it was so different now, and Eiji wasn't sure he'd ever be able to pinpoint when, exactly, everything got turned on it's head – or maybe there wasn't a specific moment either, he could never be sure. All he knew was that somewhere along the line, he'd come to actually _care_ about Ankh has he'd hardly let himself care about someone in years – he cared for people in general and protected those in front of him, even becoming personally involved with individuals, but he hadn't really _cared_ about specific people, hadn't allowed himself to, since the little girl in the bombed village.

Maybe he had let his guard down, never expecting to care for the selfish, plotting Greeed, but he'd ended up seeing more than he'd expected in the time they'd spent together. He'd seen Ankh's frustration at having to possess a human as he'd had no body of his own; he'd seen the other attempt to stand strong and pretend nothing was wrong even after he'd lost a good number of cell medals and should, by all means, be on the floor; he'd watched as Ankh realized he, Eiji, wasn't really as naïve and oblivious – excepting in romantic matters – as people took him for and treated him accordingly; he'd watched as Ankh gave in and ate nutritious meals with very little fight in order to keep keiji-san healthy, even if he still ate an extraordinary number of ice pops; he'd seen Ankh's surprise and – mostly hidden – fear when faced with the fact that most of his body was now a completely separate entity, and then his determination when he said that _he_ would not be the one to disappear when they joined; and, while he was watching all this, he'd somehow managed to come to care for the blonde, maybe more than he'd ever cared about anyone before. On top of that, he still wasn't _entirely _sure where he stood with Ankh. Usually the other acted like he was just someone convenient to use, but, at times, there would be a look in his eyes that contradicted his words, one that told Eiji that the other _did_ care for him even if neither were sure just how much because this was a mostly – entirely in Ankh's case – new experience. All that mattered, though, was that he knew that, to Ankh, he was a convenient partner, usually a friend and maybe, just maybe, something more.

It was that, though, that made everything so complicated. He still wanted to save keiji-san, for Hina-chan if nothing else, but he couldn't be entirely sure what would happen when that finally occurred, when Ankh regained his own body and left keiji-san behind. Even if he managed to emerge victorious over the possession of his own body, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't change from the, for lack of a better word, _person_ Eiji had come to care about, and that scared the brunette more than anything and was one of the reasons he'd been reluctant to let Ankh come to possess any more of his own medals. It was also the reason he'd been so determined to learn the truth about what had happened 800 years ago.

In the end, though, he knew that there wasn't anything to be done about it now but simply watch and try and make sure nothing happened or take care of it once it did. He had the memories of the past, and he had today to live as if it were his last. Because of that, he could face tomorrow and what came with it, knowing that he would do his best to make sure everything worked out as best it could for everyone.


End file.
